NEAR-MISS merchant Fugitif finally got his head in front in a big one at Cheltenham.
The likeable but quirky eight-year-old added an overdue gold medal to his heap of silvers after a ding-dong battle in the December Gold Cup.
He rattled the crossbar here in November last year, finished runner-up on his return in January and was once again the bridesmaid at the Festival in March.
Trainer Richard Hobson must have been wondering if he would ever find the cure to his stable star’s seconditis and another defeat here would have been tough to stomach.
Mercifully it all dropped right, and the horse was undoubtedly helped by the strong pace set by Frero Banbou and Il Ridoto, who went hammer and tongs up front.
Full credit to the bold-jumping Il Ridoto and Bryony Frost, they still led over the last having gone flat out and he battled-on bravely when Fugitif was unleashed by Gavin Sheehan on the run-in.
For a few heartstopping seconds it looked like Fugitif wouldn’t go through with his effort, but in-form Sheehan just about persuaded him to get his head down where it mattered.
It was a peach of a ride from a jock who can do no wrong, having also bagged the Coral Gold Cup this month, and a vintage, nail-biting Cheltenham finish.
A chuffed Sheehan said: “I was a little lucky to escape four out when a couple of horses fell in front of me, if I’d have been further over it could have been a different story.
“I went through every scenario in my head about this race but that wasn’t one of them, the two horses going off in front like that.
“I thought I was too far back and I was telling myself they were going too quick, and I could tell going to the last I had a big shout.
“He thought about it a little bit on the run-in and I thought ‘this is going to be a long way home’, but he stuck his head down and he really deserves this.”
